How Did it Lead to This?
by Jezebel DeTrazie
Summary: Years ago, before Morganville, they had their own adventures. Now, without Ada, Myrnin copes by doing the one thing he does best - constructing crazy contraptions and coming up with wild theories. What happens if he deems it possible to resurrect the dead, and succeeds doing just that to Ada? Surprisingly, Amelie's not all against the idea. As well as why Myrnin dresses so oddly.
1. Chapter 1

**Hola! My first fanfic, so enjoy! I will post more chapters later, maybe sometime in the next two weeks or so ;)**

_London, 1836…_

She looked out, staring from the opulent carriage, at the crowd of Londoners. Her father's crowd. Her father, Lord Byron, had died thirteen years ago, yet his words remained on the earth.

"...Creatures of timeless age, bound by the chains of darkness...", an announcer with a golden beard was reciting from a book written by her father in the middle of the square. The people looked intrigued by the poetic words.

_Fictional_ _words_, she reminded herself. _N_o_thing more than fantastical ideas to entertain the mind._

Yet she couldn't help wondering, just for the briefest of moments, what would happen if the world suddenly defied the natural laws, and - _no, nothing like that would ever happen._

"Ada!" Her mother's voice jolted her out of her reverie.

"You're not thinking of your father's mindless works, are you?"

"No, mother. Of course not," she lied.

"Now that's my girl. I don't want my only child to be a hopeless romantic like her father was."

Ada gazed at her mother. Ada did not know Lord Byron, although she was very curious to know the man that was her father. In fact, she was only allowed to look at a picture of him last year, when she turned twenty. She only partially agrees with her mother that her father's work was a waste of time.

"You don't need to worry about me, mother."

"Good." She replied, "How are you studies progressing?"

"Very well. I am currently working on an algorithm encoded for processing by a machine."

Looking lost, her mother replied, "Ada, today these people are celebrating the works of many poets. I brought you here to show you what your father did, and to prevent your interest in him from growing. I don't want you to end up like him." _I don't want you to be insane._

She didn't speak those words aloud, but it was clear, from the expression on her face.

The coachman opened the carriage door and helped her mother out. Then he held up a hand for Ada. Ignoring him, she hopped out and followed her mother. She led her to corner of the town square where there were less people, and to a small part where the ground was slightly elevated from the rest.

"Now, Ada," her mother began, " I want you to observe these people. These are people like your father. What do you see? Do they look like the type who can accomplish anything?"

Taking in a breath, she studied the people closest to them, two boys whose ages looked close to thirteen, obviously in a working class. Their heads were bent together whispering about monsters, like the ones from her father's work. Occasionally, one of them would glance up at the man on the podium in wonder.

" The people closest to the podium seem to be greatly interested in the poetic field, and the ones further away appear to be only interested in seeking entertainment from the mythical fact that monsters may exist., There are plenty of couples here, so perhaps they find father's work on monsters to be romantic in some way."

Her mother gave Ada an exasperated look. " I meant their classes! Do the have what it takes to own a house and a fortune?"

Of course. She should have know from the beginning that her mother was worried she wouldn't be able to own enough money to buy useless materialistic items. It's never a good sign when her mother wants to ride with her to town, and a worse sign when she actually talked to Ada. Usually a "good morning", and then she left Ada to the care of her tutors.

" Well, not many seem to have a decent financial plan, or any plans for the future at all." She said half-jokingly. "There are, though a few people from what appears to be a higher class, some look tired. Perhaps they are trying to escape debt. Or going to buy something from the stores."

She turned to look at her mother, hoping for her approval. She was met with a proud smile, "There you go, dear. Do not dwell on your father's words unless you wish to loose all that we own. Now, I shall leave you here to study the human characteristics of these people. I will be back at dusk, and we shall return home. Do not act irresponsibly," And with that, she turned and started walking in the direction of the fashion boutiques that lined the west of the square. No good-bye, or stay safe.

Ada stood there, unsure of what to do. She obviously wasn't going to stand around doing nothing for five hours until dusk. Her mother was a smart woman, excelling in math, yet she lacked the proper characteristics of a mother.

She glanced around at the Londoners, all focused at the bearded man's words.

" And so doth see..." He bellowed

Ada rolled her eyes, an unladylike gesture. No one here was paying her any attention, so she supposed it was fine. Smoothing out the front of her sky-blue dress, she wondered where they came up with the name "sky-blue", considering the sky here in London was almost always a bleak and boring gray.

With nothing to do, she stared, frustrated at the ground. Hearing someone calling her name, she turned around, and walking towards her was a girl with long, brown hair, matched with brown eyes. Elise.

Many people said they looked alike, even though Ada had mahogany hair and hazel eyes. They were, however, the same height and size. Her mother once said it was because they both had that look of intelligence in their eyes.

"Elise! What are you doing here?"

"I might ask the same to you," she replied with a smile. "It shouldn't be uncommon of me to listen to poetry,"

Elise was a sweet girl, and one of her only _real_ friends. But she tended to be rather flirtatious, and was frequently ill. It was nice to see her out and healthy today.

"My mother brought me here to show me all the wrong doings of my dead father, and while I have to stand here in shame, mother is off shopping somewhere."

"Sounds sad."

"Not really." Ada sighed.

Elise looked at her with a look of pity in her eyes.

"You know, at least you have a mother." she said. Elise's parents were both dead, and she spends a quarter of her time with Ada, helping with experiments, a quarter flirting with men, and the other half in bed, sick. Though she was getting much better nowadays.

"Anyways, I think your dad was a great poet, so romantic."

She had to agree. She read some of his works, and they were great, even though they were dramatic and fictional. Her mother had discouraged her of doing so.

"Thanks."

"Ada, I must ask, have you any news of William?"

Ada sighed. If there was one person that Elise was more than obsessed about, it was William King-Noel. Just two months ago, Ada's mother had told her that she had arranged a marriage for her with Will, and that nearly broke all of what was left of their weak relationship. And while she despised Will for all he was - a rich, lazy, insignificant pest - Elise practically worshiped him. So when she found out of the marriage that would take place in one year, she had been pestering Ada for every bit of information possible. She knew Ada wouldn't care if she asked. Personally, Ada thought that you should only marry someone you love, and that was what drew her attention closer to her father's works.

"No, nothing new, but you can feel free to kill him for me," she said. The thought of that spoiled man's silk shirt getting stained by his own blood made her smile.

"Oh," Elise replied, disappointed. "Well, I should go. My doctor says it's better to stay home, or I might get sick." She waved and slowly made her way across the square.

Ada stared at her retreating back. Deciding to listen to her mother, she analyzed the growing crowd with boredom.

Then she saw something different.

Some_one_ different.

He stood there, his coal-black eyes searching the crowd, looking for someone.

_**One hour earlier**_**...**

"Amelie! Would listen to me just this _once_?" Myrnin yelled, exasperated. But from the look in his friend's eyes, he knew he was fighting a loosing battle.

"No."

That was the only word she said before briskly walking out of his finely decorated study, carefully avoiding the pieces of the broken pearwood desk.

Myrnin stood staring in pity at the desk, mentally taking note to make Amelie buy him a new one for destroying said desk. Even though he was the one who smashed it.

_Well,_ he thought,_ if she didn't tell me I needed an assistant, I would have never gotten mad. And it was only a soft _tap_, it's not like I broke it on purpose just to ruin her dress._

Well, maybe a little, teensy bit on purpose.

That dress was just too blue.

He finally tore his eyes away from the poor desk, and mulled over what Amelie had told him. She had come over just like any other day, but instead of asking how he was progressing in finding a cure to the disease which turns a vampire crazy, she suggested something that completely surprised him.

And displeased him.

It was a hit to his ego to suggest taking on an assistant on helping him with his work. As if he needed help. He was perfectly capable of finding one, it was just a matter of time, he told her.

But what infuriated him most was her suggestion. Amelie, for all her brilliance and wisdom, had suggested a _human_ to be his assistant. Some girl named after a month, or something like that.

He had stopped listening (closely) when she made comment, which then turned into and order. Then she went on about how she had to get going to 'snatch some dresses before they're gone'.

She was referring those dreadful stores near the square. For reasons he could not understand, Amelie preferred the local fashions instead of imported silk.

She claimed it was the colour.

Myrnin saw no difference.

And so, it was while thinking of how much Amelie enjoyed dresses that he came up with the brilliant plan of trying to convince her to rethink her decisions while she was happily surrounded by fashions, that way, she would be in a better mood, and therefore more pliable.

It was mostly wishful thinking on his behalf.

And so, he left his study, walking past the wooden splinters before turning around and taking a moment to mourn for the desk. _All the times we've been through, that desk and I,_ thought Myrnin.He thought of all those days he went without (unnecessary) sleep, with no one by his side except Kudos, (whom he just named on the spot) the loyal desk, and now he's _dead_ because of him and they shall never again share a writer-and-desk moment and -

_Oh my._

He suddenly realised how crazy it all sounded, even in his head.

_Stupid disease._

He mentally cursed himself for being and idiot, and walked out, kicking a leg out of the way.

When he arrived at the square, he groaned internally.

He had forgotten that today was the poetry thing, and everyone was crowding the square. London was a very crowded place to begin with, and it had to be today that half the population was tightly herded in one area.

To make matters worse, the speaker was currently, reciting some works about vampires.

_How ironic._

The crowed swooned at the spoken words, completely unaware that there were currently two, right amongst them. Well, one was here, and the other... somewhere.

Myrnin scanned the crowd; everyone was watching the reciter, and there was no sign of Amelie.

_She probably went into one of those stores._ He thought.

He turned a full circle, hoping to catch a glimpse of her ridiculous blue dress - undoubtedly covered with tiny wooden splinters, though only visible if one were to look closely.

Instead, he saw someone else, not paying the least bit attention to the speaker, but staring directly at him, as if he were a new discovery or a very interesting specimen.

He instinctively looked down at himself, and seeing nothing out of place, continued by staring back at her. He expected her to look away, as any polite lady should, but instead she continued her analyzation. _A challenge, then. _He thought.

He noticed that she was wearing the same shade of blue that Amelie had on, but her dress was simpler, and he took note of how she looked much better in that colour.

But he would never tell Amelie if he wanted to continue living.

His curiosity getting the better of him, he made his way towards her, (gently) pushing a few meals with feet out of the way.

She blinked, finally noticing him approaching.

"Hello," he put on a charming smile, "can I help you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Right... So, back with another chapter! This takes place after the final book, Daylighters, and contains some spoilers. If you don't like spoilers, stop here, read later. If you haven't read the book, but want to keep reading, here's what you need to know: (Warning; major spoilers ahead) A man named Fallon found a cure to turn vamps back to human, but it only works like, 25% of the time. Michael is human again (yay!) and Shane, Claire, Eve & Michael had a double wedding. Myrnin apparently found happiness with Claire's new vamp friend Jesse (sniff sniff, I still ship Ada/Myrnin), also known as Lady Grey, person who ruled as queen for nine days in her human life. Myrnin's lab also got trashed, and the Day house demolished. Well, now you got the cliff notes. Enjoy!**

_Amelie's office, present day..._

Amelie picked up the phone on the second ring. The caller ID said **Jesse**._ What could she want?_

Sighing, she talked into the receiver.

"Hello?" She heard a crash in the background. "Is everything all right?"

"Um, yeah...no. It's Myrnin. I don't know what's wrong with him." There was the sound of a door shutting and then the noise was muffled.

Amelie immediately thought of a hundred bad things that could possibly have happened. Did the Daylighters return? Is the disease back? Did he lose his spider Rob, no, wait, Bob?

"Tell me what happened."

Jesse hesitated. "Well, I don't know. I just walked into the lab and he was looking for something I think, and he didn't recognise me! Well he did, but it was like he wasn't expecting me to be there, but I go to the lab almost everyday! I think he called me Ava or something when he heard me coming, but I - and- I know he's a bit wacko, but what on earth is this?!"

Amelie couldn't help it. She groaned and face-palmed.

"Relax. He's probably having, an, well, I suppose you can call it an episode. It's worse than usual, by the sounds of it."

"Okay, so what do I do?"

"Nothing. Well, I suppose you can make sure he doesn't accuse you of killing or kidnapping Ada. If he does, then simply stay alive till I arrive. I shall be there shortly."

"Wait, who's Av -" Amelie hung up and stood, walking to the door of her office. _Paperwork will have to wait,_ she thought with a smile on her face.

When she arrives at the cul-de-sac where Myrnin's lab is located, she got out of the car and motioned to her driver to wait. Keeping her expression neutral, she mentally prepared herself for whatever chaos that would present itself once she set foot into the lab.

Walking gingerly down the newly repaired stairs, she entered the lab to find (thank god) that Jesse was all right. Myrnin lay unconscious on the ground in front of her. She had a grim expression on her face.

Glancing around, Amelie surveyed the room. There were a lot of broken equipment, and shattered glass. the far wall was dented with a shape that suspiciously resembled Myrnin's thick head. She felt a twinge of annoyance as she gritted her teeth; it had taken a good chunk out of Morganville's wallet to replace everything that the Daylight foundation had destroyed, and now they were going to have to pay for the replacements again.

_This time, _Amelie thought, _he's going to pay for it himself._ She was well aware that her old friend had quite a fortune stashed away - somewhere. Although it wouldn't surprise her if he forgot it even existed.

"Ahem." Jesse cleared her throat, bringing her back to the present.

"Hello Jane."

"Uh, I told you I'd prefer it if you called me Jesse."

Ignoring her comment, Amelie continued by asking, "Why don't you tell me what happened here?"

"I told you everything I know on the phone. After that I got out of the closet and knocked him out on the wall. Rather easily, I might add. It's not like him to be caught off guard. Anyway, I believe _I'm_ the one who should be the one asking the questions here," she replied with a look.

Normally, she would have punished or at least threatened anyone who dares to be so bold towards her, but Jan - _Jesse_ - had a point.

Just then, Myrnin began to stir, and Jesse looked ready to tackle him. Amelie put a hand on her arm to stop her.

On the ground, Myrnin groaned and sat up, putting a rubbing a hand on the back of his head.

"_Beth ar y ddaear...?" _He continued to mumble incoherently in Welsh, mixing in words from some long forgotten dialect. He looked up at the sound of Amelie tapping her foot.

"_Beth sy'n mynd ymlaen_? Er, um, uh... uh what?" He looked around, confused. Meeting Amelie's eyes, he suddenly remembered what had transpired. Guilt flooded his features, and his eyes were fresh with loss and heartbreak. He pushed himself off the ground and stumbled towards a chair that he had (thankfully) not broken. He still felt a bit drowsy... maybe if he had a nap...

"You had another, ah, episode." Amelie's icy voice brought him back to the present.

"Yes, well, congratulations. You have just solved the mystery of the century. Way to go, Captain Obvious." Sneered Myrnin, sarcastically.

From the corner of her eye, Jesse saw Amelie bristle at the mention of Captain Obvious. Obviously Myrnin was not in his right mind yet. But as she glanced at him, he seemed perfectly aware of what he was saying, and not regretting one word. _She's going to kill him._

But when she turned to look at Amelie, there was pity in her eyes.

"You were doing so well." Amelie frowned. "What happened?"

Myrnin, who seemed unable to sit still, got up and started pacing.

"It's nothing." He mumbled.

"Don't tell me that. I want to know what you saw that set you off." Urged Amelie.

"It's - ugh! What do you know?! It's not like you actually understand!"

Don't you tell me that I don't know what love is!" Amelie snapped.

"Oh, sure, you can play the role of caring friend to perfection, but at the end of the day, you just like everyone else - the only reason I'm here is because I'm useful. It's because without me, you precious little town would fall apart, and you'd have no kingdom to rule!"

"How DARE you - we have been friends for _centuries_, how could you be so cruel as to tell _me_ that _I _don't know what loss is?!"

They were on the brink of strangling each other to death. Jesse stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"I'm not saying you don't know what loss is - of course you do, I'm not an idiot - I'm saying you no longer remember what it's like to _care_ for someone other than yourself." He glared.

Amelie visibly clamed at this. "Myrnin, you are one of my oldest and most trusted friends. You know I care, and should you be killed, I would personally take care of your killer."

"Yes, but you didn't give a second thought when _she _died. If I were of any value to you, you would have cared for her as well." He whispered.

Amelie hesitated, and finally gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm totally lost here." Jesse commented.

Glancing at Myrnin for approval (this is probably the _only_ subject she would ever need _Myrnin's_ approval on) Amelie responded,

"Back in the early eighteenth century, our friend here was, well, taken by a particular girl. She was, coincidentally, the same person I told him to take as an assistant. And, there was an incident." Myrnin resumed his pacing, kicking away debris. "Soon after she was turned, I left England and came here to rebuild. I sent for them - "

"No, you sent for _me._ It was on m_y_ terms that she came." Myrnin interrupted.

"Well, yes, I suppose. I sent for him to help with the building of Morganville, but at the time, there was also the disease I mentioned, driving him to insanity. Now, the girl, she was a peculiar case. Pehaps it had something to do with her bloodline," Mused Amelie. "Instead of going insane, she got very weak, and when the inevitable happened, she was wired to the machine that controls Morganville. It was very fortunate at the time, for Morganville, that is, because the machine couldn't work without some sort of consciousness that can make decisions not based on programming, but what thought and emotions as well."

"Wait, so you hooked up her corpse to a machine?" Jesse interrupted.

"I believe he said, 'only the essentials,' or something from that line. But there was a malfunction, and now we have Frank." Amelie finished hastily, because Myrnin looked ready to kill everyone in America and blame it on George Washington.

"Oh, okayyy." There was an awkward silence, as Myrnin's pacing made no sound whatsoever.

"So, Ava, right? I mean, that was her name?" Jesse pressed. No one answered her. Myrnin appeared deep in thought, and Amelie started talking.

"This time, Myrnin, _you're_ paying for replacements."

"No I'm not; you still owe me."

"For what?" Amelie replied, confused.

"London 1836, remember?" He smiled, back to himself again.

"No. I don't have time for your games, Myrnin."

"That pearwood desk. With gold filigree inlays. It was worth a lot, and had it made it to this day, would probably be worth enough to replace every item." Myrnin beamed.

Amelie groaned.

**Hope you liked it! Again, I'll try to upload a new chapter in around 2 weeks. Forgive me if I take a ****little**** longer (no more than 3 weeks, promise ;) because, well, I'm busy with…life. Also a bunch of school projects just poped out of no where, so yeah.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back! Sorry for the late update, but if it helps, it's an extra long chapter (by my standards, anways). Just so you don't get confused, somewhere along this chapter I mess around with the timeline a bit, but nothing too drastic. Next chapter will be a flashback again, so prepare people! Or person.**

Claire didn't know whether to be ecstatic or annoyed. Every_._ S_ingle_. Time. She would be the go-to person to clean up after Myrnin's messes. Every time he goes on one of his tantrums, she's the one who sweeps away the shattered test tubes, and dust away the broken plaster. At least Amelie pays her extra. The only reason it was her they chose is probably because she's the only one who partially understands which order (though she highly suspected that word wasn't in Myrnin's vocabulary) the tools and, well, stuff, goes.

But this time. Oh _this_ time she was supposed to be on her _honeymoon_. She and Shane were supposed to leave this morning, but instead, they got a visit from Amelie.

So here she was, dustpan in hand, trying to finish as fast a humanly possible. But she wouldn't have stayed if it were not for the fabulous offer Amelie had given her; stay and clean, and Amelie would pay for all expenses for their trip. Anywhere in the world.

At least Shane was here. But the sweetest thing was the fact that Eve and Michael decided to delay their honeymoon as well, just for her. She had insisted they go, but being the perfect, crazy, stubborn, family they are, well, here they are. Not actually helping, but, hey, it's the thought that matters, right?

"Hey, is it me, or is a that very bipolar-vamp shaped dent in the wall?" Shane poked at the plaster.

Claire glanced up, and noticed the similarities between Myrnin's head and the shape of the dent.

"Wouldn't be the first time." muttered Claire. "We have to fill that in. There's some plaster on the second shelf."

"Uh, which shelf? Hey, wanna go out for some brisket later?"

"Yeah, Shane, sure. The shelf with the stuff that looks like car parts." she replied, annoyance tingeing her voice.

"Hey, Mike, you guys going to help? Ugh, seriously man, get a room."

Claire sighed, and turned towards Eve and Michael. And immediately wished she didn't.

"Can you stop snogging for a moment and help sweep the glass?" she asked, politely looking away.

Eve raised an eyebrow. "Snogging?"

"That's Myrnin rubbing off on me."

That caught Shane's attention. "He better not be litterally, because if he - "

"SHANE! God, no! Serious trust issues - "

"Relax, I was joking." he said, and kicked around the wall. "Hey, do you hear that?"

"No. What?" She asked, glancing around.

"Uh, hey. In case anyone forgot we've existed, here's a thought; Where's the dustpan?" Asked Eve.

"I've got it. Now Shane, hear what?" She was interrupted by the sound of Michael pushing a desk out of the way. Or what used to be one.

"That!" He bent down and started tapping a part of the wall close of the ground. He tapped in two different places. "This is supposed to be a solid wall, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, here listen to this." He tapped on the right side a couple of times, then tapped again, on the left, about one foot away from the last spot. "It's hollow on this side." True enough, the left part of the wall made an empty noise. "The top's not hollow, only the bottom, and it's shaped kind of like a square."

"Weird," Was all Claire got out before Eve butted in with "Yeah, but this is crazy vampire boss we're talking about, so what do you expect? A solid wall?"

Michael wrapped an arm around her."Yeah, kinda agree with Eve here. It could be nothing."

Shane resumed tapping, testing the wall at different places. "What do you think's in here?"

"Don't really care, or want to find out." Eve sniffed.

Claire's curiosity peaked, but she pushed it back down, reasoning it could be anything. As in _anything. _"Yeah, I don't think we should find out. I mean, there has to be a reason he hollowed out a wall. Or no reason at all."

"Oh my god!" Eve gasped. "What if it's a body?"

Everyone stopped at this.

"Nah, the hole's too small." But even at Shane's comment, the room was still wary.

"It could be chopped up."

"It could be buried treasure. I mean, during my short stint as a vampire, lots of the older one's that were alive for a long time would say how they have a whole treasury but forgot where they hid it." Mused Michael, trying to lighten up the mood, which was quickly getting paranoid.

Claire watched, paralyzed with curiosity, and a bit of fear, as Shane said, "Well, only one way to find out."

He picked up a pipe used in one of their previous experiments, and started batting the wall with it. After a couple of hard hits, it finally stated coming apart.

"That guy has a hard head." Shane huffed through swings.

Michael picked up a baseball bat (what was that doing there anyways?) and joined Shane.

"They're fixing that." Eve muttered, but her eyes were glued to the now crumbling wall, curiosity shimmering off her.

With one final swing from Michael, there was now a new hole.

Claire peeked into the hole - to find -

A box.

Disappointment welled up in here, but really, what was she expecting to find?

_Some new adventure, or mystery. Or treasure._ She thought.

The box was about one and a half feet, and made of a bronze-ish metal.

Eve reached in to retrieved the box. Suddenly she yelped. She had turned to look over her shoulder when she saw that there was a _monster _on her. It was furry and gross, and surprisingly didn't weigh a lot. She raised a hand to bat away and squish whatever creature that was, when Claire grabbed her arm.

"Wait no! Eve! That's Bob! Myrnin would have killed you if you killed Bob!"

Bob the Spider was Myrnin's pet, though she never really understood why he kept him around.

"Ew, that thing's still alive?"

"Yeah, I think Myrnin did something to him. Not sure, though." Claire replied, carefully cupping Bob, and when spotting the broken tank that was his home, decided to place him carefully in a large jar.

In the meantime, Eve was taking something off the lid of the box. A letter.

"What does it say?" Claire asked, glancing at the letter.

Opening it, Eve swore. "It's another language. Claire Bear, translate if you will?"

"I don't know any other languages. Why would I, anyways?" she replied, glancing at the contents of the letter, which was about a page long. Something in her mind clicked, but she couldn't figure out what. There was something familiar about the writing, as if she'd seen it before, but only once, and very briefly. She reached out for the letter. The writing was neat and tidy, but not familiar. It was on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't put her finger on it... She decided to let the thought go.

"Who do you think wrote it?" inquired Michael.

"Obviously someone who had access to the lab, and is strong enough to make a hole in the wall and patch it up pretty good. So a vampire. Maybe Myrnin put it there himself." Answered Shane.

The neatness of the writing also perplexed Claire. She had never seen this writing before, but the way it was written reminded her of _something. _"No, I know his handwriting, and he couldn't write this neat if the apocalypse arrived and the only way to survive was to write like this."

"Then it's probably someone who knew Myrnin could read this language, because it's addressed to him. Maybe it's someone he traveled with, like Amelie."

"Yeah Shane, cause she would totally dig a hole in the wall of and underground lab her spare time." quipped Eve.

Michael, being the one who keeps everyone on track when Claire's not, declare "Why don't we just open the box and get it over with?"

"Uh, sure genius, if you have the key."

"There might be a hint in the letter. Claire, are you sure you don't know this language?" Michael asked, still hoping.

Well, his hoping might not be for nothing after all, for Claire replied with, "I don't know, but I think I've seen it somewhere. It might be what Shane said."

"That Amelie wrote this?"

"No, someone who knew him did." And then, if mental clicks could be heard, all of Morganville would have heard this one."It's German!"

"Really? How do you know?" Michael ran a hand through his blonde hair, tousling it.

"Yes, I'm sure. And I may have an idea of who this is from. A long time ago," she topped. Was it really that long? Being in Morganville could make a person think they were here for a thousand years when it was really just a day. "Or, around the time Myrnin found Bob, I found a book and I asked Ada what it said, and she said it was German. She also said that she travelled with Myrnin before they came here." And it hit her that they may have uncovered something personal. "Maybe we shouldn't open it." Suddenly she didn't feel as willing to find out what was in the box as before, wanting to respect their privacy. Even though Ada died trying to kill her.

Shane interrupted her thoughts by stating, "Yeah, we really shouldn't."

A new respect for Shane blossomed within her. Who knew he had it in him to forgive Ada for trying all she'd done? But as quickly as it come, that respect was squished by him continuing on with, "Remember that time Claire opened the box that exploded? This one could be rigged too."

Claire huffed, slightly deflated at his lack of consideration. "We should also respect her privacy. Besides, it's not even addressed to us. It's for Myrnin."

"You know what that means?"

"Bro, seriously, stop with the cryptic messages." teased Michael.

"But how else would I achieve my mysterious aura?" Shane pouted in return.

Claire's felt her knees go weak, and her heart melted a little. "Come on, just tell us." she urged.

"It's not rigged. Ada would never want to hurt Myrnin, so it's probably safe to open."

"But we need a key. And if we try to smash it, it might break whatever's inside."

"Wait, I think I know were to find it!" Claire had help her boss (attempt) to clean up and organize the lab multiple times, and every time, random things would pop up. Random things like keys. She didn't know whether to throw them out or not, because it might turn out to be important. So instead she stashed them all into a Tupperware container she leaves in the corner of the room. Grabbing the container with one hand, while prying it open with the other, she got to the group that was anxiously waiting. "Try these. I found them while cleaning."

"One question, CB. How many are in there?"

"A lot. We'll just have to try them all."

Forty-six tries later, it finally opened. And inside was nothing they'd expected.

There were neat stacks of photo albums, and what appeared to be memory chips and USBs.

Claire reached in and took out an album labeled 1956, and flipped it open. The first few were polaroid photos of Myrnin working on something, but when she turned the page, her eyes fell onto a picture of a picture of a young woman, from the shoulders up.

She appeared to be in her early to mid twenties, and was stunningly beautiful, with loose, violet-brown ringlets tied back in a messy bun. Her large, hazel eyes, were rimmed with thick lashes, and she appeared to be looking up, taken by surprise when the picture was taken. Claire wondered who's picture this was. Behind her, Shane whistled, then looked immediately guilty.

"Okay, whoever took that just won best Photoshopper of the century." Eve muttered, voice filled with awe.

"Honey, there was no Photoshop in nineteen fifty-six, and besides, this is a polaroid shot." Michael answered.

"Aw, but no one should look _that_ good and get away with it."

On the next page was the same girl, this time taken from further away. She was standing behind a metal desk, piled with papers and chemicals. Her head was tipped back in laughter, and Claire could almost hear it. Sudden recognition hit her when she noticed her clothes. She was wearing a floor length Victorian dress with a lace bodice, and a chocker, dangling with an engraved pendant.

"Actually, Eve, I don't think she did get away with it."

"What do you mean?"

"That's Ada." It was true. She only slightly resembled her computer generated projection, but she had the same graceful posture and delicate features as the portrait from Myrnin's locket. Come to think of it, the only reason Frank looked like himself was because of his choice in clothing and his scar. In fact, now that she was looking, the background of the photo matched the layout of the original lab.

"_That's _what she actually looks like?" Eve blurted, eyes wide in disbelief.

Shane swore.

Michael rubbed Eve's back soothingly.

Claire's mind was reeling as she tried to do the math. She didn't know what time Ada was from, but she could safely assume she was from the Victorian era, which is around 1850 to the 1990s, and Myrnin had said she stayed a vampire with him for nearly a hundred years before she was put into the machine, so that means around 1950 to 1990 she died. But thing that didn't add up was when she had rebuilt the machine after it broke, and everyone's memory went back to three years ago. Myrnin had still thought Ada was alive, which would imply that three years before she arrived, Ada was not yet in the machine. But how was that possible if she died less than a hundred years after she was a vampire? All her thoughts were whirling, and she voiced her questions out loud, hoping to make sense of her calculating.

"Whoa! Claire, slow down." Shane said. "Who cares? Maybe Crazy just did some miscalculation or something."

"Yeah, CB. Just chill. It was all over, like, a hundred years ago. and if you're still confused, think of it this way; time pasts fast when you're in love." Eve looked at Michael when she said the last part. He smiled back.

Claire flipped through various albums. The photo quality changed to more modern types the further she looked. It seemed Ada was the main photographer, but there were also pictures of her and Myrnin together, and a couple of shots with just her. There were some with Amelie and Sam, and a few with Ada draped over Myrnin.

But there was one picture that caught her eye; It shouldn't have been different from any of the other photos, in fact it wasn't. But there was just_ something_ about the way Myrnin looked at Ada, with his arm gently wrapped around her slim waist. Ada had her head resting on his shoulder, eyes gazing up at him with a loving, yet determined gaze, and a faint smile graced her lips. Claire had never understood how some people would take a picture and call it art, but looking at this one, she just felt - something. She couldn't describe it, but this is her favourite photo.

It was also the last photo.

The pictures stopped five years ago. Three years before she came to Morganville. Claire knew that Ada had been trying to find a way to save the vampires, desperately searching for a cure to madness.

Snapping back to the present, she looked into the box. There were only the memory chips and USBs left. She told Shane to go to the back room to check if her laptop was still there. While everyone was preoccupied with stuffing a USB into the port, Claire discreetly slipped the last photo out and slid it into her pocket.

The USBs contained more photos. Eve was scrolling through them. Near the end were some videos. She was about to click one when Claire reached out and stopped her.

"Hey!" Eve whined.

"Guys, we have to start working. Look at the time." She pointed to the time on the screen, which showed 3:32.

"Right." Shane agreed.

About three hours later, Amelie walked in to find the lab in much better condition. The hole and dent were patched up, and the Glass house gang were bent over Claire's laptop, watching Frozen. Claire looked up as Amelie descended the steps, and noticed her pleased expression. However, that had disappeared the moment she landed on the last step, and her head whipped around, searching for the source of something.

She was in front of Claire in a flash, and startled, Claire dropped her laptop. Luckily it was still in one piece, and Michael reached down and paused the movie. Amelie took a deep breath, and Claire knew immediately something was wrong. It seemed that Michael was the first one to guess what, as he face palmed and swore.

Shane nudged Michael, and said "Mind filling us in, bro?"

Michael simply look at Amelie, who in turn said, "Yes Michael, why don't you do the honors of explaining what has happened here?"

Michael looked uneasy, and hesitantly said " well, uh, vampires have a really good sense of smell, so uh..."

And it dawned to everyone (who didn't already know) that Ada's smell was probably wafting the place.

"Good. Now which of you can explain to me just how did this particular scent come to be?" Amelie's gaze turned hard.

Claire decided to step up, but before she could speak, Shane was already explaining.

"Look, we're really sorry, and if anyone's to blame it's me. I found a part of the wall that was hollowed out, and knocked it open, and there was this box. We opened that and there were a bunch of photo albums and as soon as we realized what it was, we put it back and resealed the wall." It the truth, or, an extension of it. But by the look in Amelie's eyes, she knew that they'd been exploring for over an hour, but had she stumbled upon the same thing, she would have done the same.

Michael looked worried, "Is it obvious?"

"Her scent is faint, but Myrnin would detect it immediately. I'm more concerned of what he would do afterwards." She replied.

It was then Claire noticed that Myrnin was not here, and she took the chance to ask.

"He is currently with Jesse, apologizing, I believe, for his earlier misbehavior.", she replied. "Now, we need to ventilate this room before - "

Claire heard the door open, and Myrnin walked down the stairs with Jesse. He stopped when he caught Ada's scent.

Jesse turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

Myrnin appeared to regain his composure, and the look of insecurity was gone so fast, Claire wasn't sure if it had been there in the first place. He continued down the steps, smiling at Claire and nodding politely at Amelie as he walked past them.

His eyes darkened as he purred, "Nothing. Nothing is wrong."

**Ooooh, now what does that mean? (Strokes invisible goatee while thinking up future chapters). As always, hope you enjoyed! Also, watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier earlier this week, then watched Thor and a bunch of random movies. Like the Lion King. Is it me, or do Thor and Loki really resemble Mufasa and Scar? I mean, thor is like Mufasa, strong but a bit dumb, and Loki's Scar, not as strong, but smart, complete with black hair and green eyes. Okay, I'll stop my ranting and say I'll post in the next two weeks or so. Maybe three, (sorry) because a project I'm doing that was supposed to be over last week was, well, not over, so yeah.**


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